Extrusion die deckle means

ABSTRACT

An extrusion die having a discharge orifice in the form of a relatively long narrow slot and adapted to extrude a film or sheet of a flowable plastic material. The die is equipped with external deckle means adjustable positioned along the outer end of the discharge orifice and internal deckle means adjustable positioned along the inner end of the discharge orifice. The external and internal deckle means are adjustable in unison or separately, as desired, along corresponding ends of the discharge orifice. The die and the external and internal deckle means are so constructed and arranged as to effectively regulate and control both the width and the thickness of a plastic film or sheet that is extruded from the die.

United States Patent Bunte et al.

154] EXTRUSION DIE DECKLE MEANS [73] Assignee: Egan Machinery Company [22] Filed: June 17, 1971 21] Appl. No.: 154,138

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 108,459, Jan. 21,

1971, Pat. No. 3,694,132.

3,133,313 5/1964 Corbett ..425/466 Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-Ben D. Tobor Attorney-F. J. Pisarra [57] ABSTRACT An extrusion die having a discharge orifice in the form of a relatively long narrow slot and adapted to extrude a film or sheet of a flowable plastic material. The die is equipped with external deckle means adjustable positioned along the outer end of the discharge orifice and internal deckle means adjustable positioned along the inner end of the discharge orifice. The external and internal deckle means are adjustable in unison or separately, as desired, along corresponding ends of the discharge orifice. The die and the external and internal' deckle means are so constructed and arranged as to effectively regulate and control both the width and the thickness of a plastic film or sheet that is extruded from the die.

9 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures EXTRUSION DIE DECKLE MEANS RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA This application is a continuation-in-part of our pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 108,459, filed Jan. 21, 1971, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,132.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the art of extruding plastic materials and, more particularly, to an extrusion die having a discharge orifice in the shape of a long narrow slot and including an improved arrangement of deckle means associated with the slot for readily and effectively regulating the width and the thickness of a plastic film or sheet extruded from the die.

It is important and desirable from the viewpoint of economics that extruded plastic film or sheet material be uniform in width and thickness at the time of formation. So far as we have been able to ascertain and except as disclosed in our said application Ser. No. 108,459, presently known plastic extruders are not capable of extruding films or sheets that are uniform both in width and in thickness.

Satisfactory regulation and control of the width of extruded plastic films is attained by employment of an external deckle of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,689 to Chiselko et a1. However, the problem of non-uniform film thickness is not solved by the use of the Chiselko et al or similar types of external deckles. In other words, known external deckles are capable of effectively regulating only the width of extruded plastic films but are incapable of also regulating the thickness of such films.

Non-uniform or uneven film thickness is characterized by regions of greatly increased thickness along the edges of the film, known as edge beads. These beads are caused by contraction in width of the film along its edges after the film leaves the die. Such contraction is commonly referred to as neck in. The amount of neck in and the resulting edge beads varies with the characteristics of particular plastic materials including viscosity, surface tension, etc. In the manufacture of useful and commercially acceptable products utilizing plastic films, the edge beads must be severed from the film or from a combined film and substrate. This is unecomonical as it results in substantial increases in labor and equipment costs and considerable losses in materials.

Over the years, there have been a number of developments directed to the elimination or minimization of formation of edge beads in plastic films by the use of internal deckles. Such developments are exemplified by the constructions disclosed in corresponding U.S. Pats. including No. 2,712,155 to Nelson, No. 2,982,995 to Groleau, No. 3,018,515 to Sneddon and No. 3,107,191 to Brownold.'Each of these developments, while helpful in reducing the creation of edge beads on extruded film, has operating disadvantages which have mitigated against general acceptance and use in the plastics extrusion coating and casting industry. For example, the deckle rod of U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,995 must be located very close to the discharge end of the die orifice in order to reduce travel of the plastic material toward the ends of the die after it passes the deckle rod. Such travel cannot be adequately controlled, thereby resulting in objectionable instability in the width of the extruded film. Moreover, shortening the distance from the deckle rods to the discharge end of the die orifice, which distance is known as the land length, results in poor quality extruded film in the case of many of the commonly used plastic materials.

We have discovered that both the width and the edge thickness of a plastic film extruded from a slot type orifice die can be effectively regulated and controlled by the use of external and internal deckle means in combination with a slot type orifice die in accordance with this invention. As will be explained further along herein and shown in the drawings, the external deckle means is preferably of the type disclosed in said Chiselko patent and the internal deckle means is preferably of the form described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is comprised of the combination of a die for extruding films or sheets of flowable plastic material, external deckle means and internal deckle means. The die has a discharge orifice in the form of a relatively long narrow slot. One extremity of the orifice constitutes an inlet which communicates with a manifold for containing a supply of the plastic material in molten state. The other extremity of the orifice constitutes an outlet which communicates with the atmosphere. The inlet and the outlet are coextensive with the length of the slot. The external deckle means is carried by the die and seals an end portion of the orifice outlet. The internal deckle means extends into the die and seals an end portion of the orifice inlet. The external and internal deckle means are adjustable in unison or separately, i.e. independently,,whereby to vary the width and the edge thickness of the extruded film or sheet, as desired.

The external deckle means may be of known construction. The internal deckle means is in the form of a rod having a free end portion which projects into the die and bears against portions of the die which define the orifice inlet. This free end portion, preferably and for best results, has a configuration corresponding to that which is herein described and illustrated.

The objects of this invention include those enumerated in our said application Ser. No. 108,459.

This invention has for a further object the provision, in extrusion die apparatus of the stated type, of external and internal deckle means which are adjustable along corresponding ends of the die orifice simultaneously and in unison or separately and independently, as desired.

The objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent and manifest to persons trained in the art from the ensuing detailed description and the accompanying drawings which describe and illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a portion of a plastic extrusion die constructed in accordance with this invention, parts being broken away or shown in vertical cross section for better illustration;

FIG. 2 is a partial end view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1',

FIG. 3 is a partial top view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged isometric view of an internal deckle gripping member which is also shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of a preferred internal deckle means according to this invention;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of an end portion of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an elevation view as seen from the right of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 3,293,689 to which reference may be had for details in addition to those set forth herein. Die 11 includes a body 12 and a pair ofcomplementary jaws 13 and 14. The jaws 13 and 14 are provided at their lower ends with respective, integral, outwardly projecting, lateral track extensions 15 and 16, having corresponding coplanar upper surfaces 17 and 18 (FIG. 6). The die body is provided with a manifold hole 20 for receiving molten plastic material from a conventional extruder or other known means (not shown). The die body is also provided with a passage 21 which communicates with the manifold hole. Both the manifold hole and the passage extend the full length of body 12.

Jaw 13 is stationary and is affixed to body 12 by screws 22. Jaw 14 is adjustable, i.e. movable toward and away from jaw 13, and is secured to the body by screws 23. Both jaws extend the full length of the body. The die jaws may be heated, as required, by suitable known electric heaters (not shown). The illustrated assembly of die body 12 and jaws l3 and 14 is closed off at each end by a unit 24 (FIG. 1). Unit 24 comprises a block 25 which is secured to body 12 by screws 26. Block 25 is provided with a through passage 27 and carries a pair of pinions 28 which are positioned to opposite sides of the block and are rotatable about a common horizontal axis 29.

Opposing faces of jaws l3 and 14 are machined their full lengths to define a passage 30 and a discharge orifice 31 having the shape or form of a relatively long narrow slot which is narrower than passage 30. The upper extremity 32 of orifice 31 constitutes its inlet and lower extremity 33 constitutes its outlet (FIG. 6). Passages 21 and 30 and orifice 31 are in a common vertical plane and are aligned for communication with manifold hold 20 whereby molten plastic admitted into the manifold hole is transmitted to and through the discharge orifice. The respective surface portions of the jaws which define the lower end of passage 30 are convergent and at corresponding angles of about to the horizontal. The block passage 27 is aligned with the lower portion of passage 30.

The earlier referred-to external deckle means is preferably the same as that of said U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,689 and comprises a generally U-shaped'body 35 (FIG. 6) which is slidable along the die jaws. Body 35 includes a pair of inwardly projecting rail extensions 36 which ride on and along corresponding upper surfaces which extend through corresponding taps in the web of U-shaped body 35 and engage and exert upward pressure on the backing piece so as to maintain the deckle bar in close contact with the surfaces of the die jaws that are adjacent orifice'outlet 33. The die is equipped at its other end with a like external deckle means.

Reference is next had to FIGS. 8 through 10 for an understanding of a preferred internal deckle means 41 according to this invention. This deckle means is made from a right circular cylindricalmetal rod and consists of an elongated rectilinear body part 42, an inner end part 43 and an outer end part 44 which is bent and at right angle to the body part. The portion of body part 42 adjacent end part 44 is provided with a series of Iongitudinally spaced graduations'45 (FIG. 1). Inner end part 43 is tapered in the direction of its free end and its peripheral surface portions are elements of the surface of revolution of a right circular cone. The inner end part is formed with a first pair of oppositely disposed, rearwardly convergent, V-shaped grooves 46 and a second pair of like grooves 47. The indicated grooves intersect the longitudinal axis 48 of inner end part 43 at its free end (FIG. 9). The portions of the surfaces at the free end of end part 43 which define grooves46 and 47 are at an angle of about Also, the grooves are equispaced about the axis 48.

As is best shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, deckle means 41 extends through block passage 27 and its forward portion is positioned along the lower end of passage 30. Part 42 also extends through a guide sleeve 50 which is externally threadedat each end for engagement with a tap (not shown) in block 25 and with an internally threaded tubular follower 51. A sealing ring 52 is interposed between sleeve 50 and follower 51.

This invention includes a coupling means 53 for releasably connecting the external deckle means to the internal deckle means whereby both deckle means may be operated in unison or independently, as desired. Coupling means 53 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 1 through 4 and comprises a plate 54 which is positioned across the outer end of U-shaped member 35 and is affixed thereto by screws 55. Plate 54 has a through opening 56 which is partially tapped to receive a tapered threaded tubular member 57 which is best shown in FIG. 4. The threaded portion of member 57 is slotted, as indicated at 58 in FIG. 4, to obtain split end parts 59. This member has a square head 60 for engagement by a suitable turning tool. It will be evident from an examination of FIGS. 1 and 4 that when member 57 is turned in one direction it advances along opening 56. This causes the split end parts 59 to flex toward each other, thereby gripping internal deckle means part 42 and securing the same to plate 54. When member 57 is turned in a reverse direction, it releases and permits the internal deckle means to be adjusted manually and independently of the external deckle means.

For the purpose of describing the operation of the present invention, it is assumed that the parts are in the relative position shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6. It is also assumed that molten plastic material is fed to die manifold hole 20 by a suitable known type of extruder. The molten plastic passes successively through passages 21 and 30 and then through orifice 31 from whence it is discharged as a film. The width of the film is determined by the position of the external deckle means, particularly deckle bars 38, and the thickness of the film by various factors including the width of orifice 31. The internal deckle rod 41 serves as a means for reducing the flow of plastic material at the edges of the film and thereby results in uniform film thickness with controlled width.

It will be apparent that the pressure of the plastic material in passage 30 exerts a force on internal deckle rod 41. This presses the deckle rod against the inclined surfaces at the lower end of passage 30 and provides an effective seal so that little, if any, of the plastic material leaks past the deckle rod. The diameter of the deckle rod is slightly less than the minimum width of passage 30. It will be appreciated that minor adjustment of die jaw 14 toward or away from fixed die jaw 13, for the purpose of adjusting the width of orifice 31, can be made without adversely affecting the sealing of the internal deckle rod.

It has been found that the configuration of the inner end part 43 of the deckle rod, the deckle rods rotational position, and the distance X from the inner end of the deckle rod to the end of corresponding deckle bar 38, are of major importance in obtaining uniform film thickness. For optimum results, the offset distance X should be within the range of 0.25 to 2.0 inches, depending on the particular plastic material. The above indicated parameters are markedly affected by the characteristics of the specific plastic material being run, especially by its viscosity.

Based on the foregoing, it is believed that the construction, operation, objects and advantages of our present invention will be readily comprehended by persons skilled in the art, without further description. It is to be clearly understood, however, that various changes in the construction described above and illustrated in the drawings may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, it being intended that all matter contained in the description or shown in the drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. In combination with a die for extruding a film or sheet of flowable plastic material and having a discharge orifice in the form of a relatively long narrow slot, said orifice having an inlet coextensive with the length of the slot and communicating with a manifold for containing a supply of the plastic material in a molten state and having an outlet coextensive with the length of the slot and communicating with the atmosphere,

a. external deckle means carried by the die and seally define the orifice inlet nd the orifice outlet, and c. coupling means re easab y connecting the internal deckle means to the external deckle means to permit adjustment of both deckle means relative to the die in unison.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein a. theexternal deckle means comprises 1. a deckle bar which bears against the die and bridges said portion of the orifice outlet and which terminates in an inner end, and b. the internal deckle means comprises 1. a deckle rod having an end part within the die, said end part terminating in an inner end which islocated in the die at a point beyond the inner end of the deckle bar and which is offset therefrom a distance within the range of from about 0.25 inch to about 2.0 inches as measured along the rod.

3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein the portion of the rod within the die is rectilinear and, except for said end part, right circular cylindrical in transverse cross section.

4. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the internal deckle means comprises a rod including rectilinear first and second parts within the die, said first part being right circular cylindrical in transverse cross section, said second part being an extension of the first part and constituting an end of the rod, said second part being provided with a plurality of angularly spaced converging grooves.

5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein each of said grooves is defined by a pair of substantially planar converging and intersecting surfaces that are triangular in configuration.

6. The combination according to claim 5 wherein the line of intersection of each of said grooves intersects the corresponding lines of intersection of the other grooves at a point which is substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the rod.

7. The combination according to claim 4 wherein the second part is provided with first and second pairs of oppositely disposed converging grooves which are equi-spaced about the longitudinal axis of the rod.

8. The combination according to claim 7 wherein each of said grooves is defined by a pair of substantially planar converging and intersecting surfaces that are triangular in configuration, the lines of intersection of said groove surfaces intersecting at a point which is substantially coincident with said axis of the rod.

9. The combination according to claim 8 wherein the second part tapers inwardly in the direction of its free end and the peripheral surfaces of the second part are elements of the surface of revolution of a right circular cone. 

1. In combination with a die for extruding a film or sheet of flowable plastic material and having a discharge orifice in the form of a relatively long narrow slot, said orifice having an inlet coextensive with the length of the slot and communicating with a manifold for containing a supply of the plastic material in a molten state and having an outlet coextensive with the length of the slot and communicating with the atmosphere, a. external deckle means carried by the die and sealing an end portion of the orifice outlet, b. internal deckle means extending into the die and sealing an end portion of the orifice inlet corresponding to said end portion of the die orifice, said internal and external deckle means being slidable along portions of the die which respectively define the orifice inlet and the orifice outlet, and c. coupling means releasably connecting the internal deckle means to the external deckle means to permit adjustment of both deckle means relative to the die in unison.
 2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein a. the external deckle means comprises
 3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein the portion of the rod within the die is rectilinear and, except for said end part, right circular cylindrical in transverse cross section.
 4. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the internal deckle means comprises a rod including rectilinear first and second parts within the die, said first part being right circular cylindrical in transverse cross section, said second part being an extension of the first part and constituting an end of the rod, said second part being provided with a plurality of angularly spaced converging grooves.
 5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein each of said grooves is defined by a pair of substantially planar converging and intersecting surfaces that are triangular in configuration.
 6. The combination according to claim 5 wherein the line of intersection of each of said grooves intersects the corresponding lines of intersection of the other grooves at a point which is substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the rod.
 7. The combination according to cLaim 4 wherein the second part is provided with first and second pairs of oppositely disposed converging grooves which are equi-spaced about the longitudinal axis of the rod.
 8. The combination according to claim 7 wherein each of said grooves is defined by a pair of substantially planar converging and intersecting surfaces that are triangular in configuration, the lines of intersection of said groove surfaces intersecting at a point which is substantially coincident with said axis of the rod.
 9. The combination according to claim 8 wherein the second part tapers inwardly in the direction of its free end and the peripheral surfaces of the second part are elements of the surface of revolution of a right circular cone. 